


Zero Plus One Doesn't Equal Two

by SprungSick



Series: Applying Zero [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Fusion AU yes, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I tried posting this once and then it cancelled so frankly im feeling lazy, Im tired and its late, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Not Beta Read, Reading my own stuff is a crime okay, Swearing, Tommy and Tubbo really do be best friends tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 09:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27468694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SprungSick/pseuds/SprungSick
Summary: People could fuse. It takes a lot of talking and a lot of trust, but people could fuse.Tommy doesn't fuse.No one really knows why.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & TommyInnit, Dave | Technoblade & TommyInnit, Ew ew ew ewe w, Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Jschlatt & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot
Series: Applying Zero [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009803
Comments: 34
Kudos: 1063
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	Zero Plus One Doesn't Equal Two

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, fusion au, whatchu gonna do? Sue me? Kiss me? 
> 
> I'm tired 
> 
> Also I know fusions are supposed to be like romantic relationships but I'm ignoring that because not all relationships have to be romantic to be deep like wtf-
> 
> Anyways enjoy my brain slowly decaying. You can hear it. Press your ear against the screen I dare you

Despite everything, Tommy could fuse. Nearly everyone could. He just preferred to hide it, going so far as to nearly dying several times to avoid revealing his not-so-secret. 

If anyone knew, they would call him insane. Fusion - despite taking a large amount of trust to maintain - was incredibly useful in intensive situations. It pooled each person’s strength and untapped potential into one body, the outcome stronger than the sum of its parts. In essence, it was a tool. 

One that he would never utilize, not if he could help it. 

“Tommy, please get your ass over here!” 

Tommy turned, shaken away from his thoughts. With the repetitive labor of rebuilding the town’s landscape a soothing white noise, he hadn’t heard the previous two calls. Wilbur and Niki’s fusion stood there, looking slightly annoyed. 

“We need more hands to move this boulder,” they huffed, four eyes rolling. Their fusion always looked unreasonably pretty. “Everyone else is busy clearing the trees so we could only come to you.” 

Tommy snorted as he dropped his shovel. “Even fused you can’t move it? Come on guys, that’s just sad. You should have just asked me in the first place.” 

The top two eyes widened, green unnaturally blinding. Their smile, wide and serene, shown behind the thick mass of hair covering a portion of their face. They murmured a gentle “Thank you, Tommy,” before a deeper “Stop, now you’re making us sound sappy-” and Tommy chose then to zone out of the conversation. 

When Tommy made it to the scene of the recent rock slide, the two had already unfused and showed him where to push. He took a moment to appreciate the ease with which they combined and separated. 

That kind of natural fusion - a fusing power duo, some would call it - took a special sort of understanding. A special sort of trust. 

He felt slightly wistful. He knew he couldn’t risk it. 

*** 

He remembered the first time he fused. It had almost been an accident, with both him and Tubbo open to the action without explicitly saying so. 

He knew Tubbo remembered as well. 

*** 

“Holy shit, holy shit- get the fuck up!” 

Tommy groaned lightly, mind still fuzzy from his nap. He shifted to see a low sun winking behind his window. 

“Big Q, what the fuck-” 

He froze, taking in the disheveled form of his friend. His chest rose and fell quickly, eyes wide and fearful even in the dim of his home. Tommy propped himself up as panic shocked his nerves. 

Quackity sucked in an uneven breath, trembling slightly. “There’s- there’s something at the borders. A monster. The hard hitters are already trying to kill it, but it doesn’t look good, it doesn’t look good-” 

Tommy cursed. He quickly stood from the table he had been resting on, already slinging on his armor. 

“Where is it?” 

Quackity came to his side, hurried pace turning to a jog. “Pretty far. I tried to alert everyone I could, and I think you’re the last person I found.” 

He mentally winced at the placement of his home. They had given him a nicer house closer to the town’s center, but of course he had to defy them and build his own shelter where regulations couldn’t get him. And then spend all his nights at the shoddy shack. 

Sometimes, he hated his own hubris. 

They ran in tense silence, each materializing their own weapon. Eventually, they met with other people and joined in the dash to the town’s walls. 

He quickly scaled the border alongside his friends, coming up the summit to see-

Oh. 

He didn’t know three mobs could fuse at once. 

A fusion of more than two was hard enough, each participant requiring an equal amount of trust and willingness for it to hold for longer than a couple of seconds. Mob fusions were even rarer - grunts and groans apparently didn’t convey enough for much to stick. 

Yet, somehow, the three in front of him managed to get on the same page. 

He furtively glanced at his friends, if only to confirm that his sight wasn’t failing him. They all stared at the hulking creature. 

On the explosion-torn land, he found the panting forms of Techno, Dream, Sapnap, and George. He furiously motioned for them to retreat and regroup. 

“Alright, what the fuck are we going to do?” 

The injured four teleported next to them as they ducked behind the parapet. As they formed a loose circle, he counted him, Quackity, Tubbo, Wilbur, Fundy, and Schlatt. Everyone donned armor and gripped their weapons. 

“If we wait for more people, we could probably overwhelm it.” 

“Fucking shit,” Tommy croaked. He snuck a glance over the wall, shuddering at the sight of radioactive green and exposed bone. 

“We don’t have any other options, and even then it’s a risk. The thing’s got bombs,” Sapnap cut in. He held his side, the entirety of his arm and chest plate caked with dirt and dust. 

Dread clawed inside him, threatening to pull him out of his own body. 

“Can we get in close?” Tubbo asked. He looked as nauseous as Tommy felt. 

Techno coughed, dusty maroon helmet hiding all emotion. “Spider legs,” he supplied, the words all he needed to say. 

Fear choked him. He registered Skeppy and Halo join their hasty circle. 

“We need a combination, ranged people hanging back and melee up close,” Dream finally cut in. “Ranged need to target its legs and melees need to immobilize its upper body. If we work together, neither team should get hurt. Fuck- any fusions-” 

The floor rumbled below them. Tommy grabbed at the brick, heart in his throat as the world shuddered and lurched in a deafening wail. 

“Shit! Get off, run-” 

“Move, move!” 

“Get to the trees and hide, we can’t afford any losses-” 

The wall collapsed. He landed in a warzone. 

Around him, he heard various grunts and warbles of teleportation. The area had been inexplicably cleared, felled trees wherever he stepped and dust replacing the oxygen in the air. 

In front of him, the monster blocked out the sky. Jutting from an eight-legged cephalothorax was a vibrant green body, the shifting flesh entrapped in an armor of bone. It paused, considering them, before a skeletal arm drew back and threw. 

They scattered. Instinct was the only thing keeping them from death. 

“Techno,” he yelled out, lurching forward. His cloaked figure paused just in time to see Tommy leap from the dust. 

“Get to safety, you look fucking injured.” 

“Not a chance,” Techno replied, wheezing as he ran. “The thing has a clear shot towards the town. I’m stopping it, and I’m stopping it right this minute.” 

Tommy spied the obscured limbs only several yards away. The ground crumbled wherever he stepped. 

“If you’re going to charge, charge when I say so. I’ll cover for you.” 

Techno stumbled, imposing trident nearly slipping from his hands. Even beneath his helmet, incredulity rolled off him in waves. Another roar ripped through the air. 

“Trust me,” he yelled desperately. More dust coated the insides of his lungs. Hesitantly, Techno nodded. 

He tumbled through the marred land, forcing his way closer to his target. Distantly, he saw others do the same. 

Furred legs became clear. He couldn’t see the sky. Beside him, Techno braced. 

Everything faded from view, his focus lasering through the smoke and on the creature’s soft chest. He felt electric, breath hitching with every step as he ran forward, arm cocking back, nothing but the twist of his chest and the weight in his hands- 

“Now!” He screamed out. He threw his javelin with all his strength. 

Around him, his allies surged forward. 

The creature shrieked in fury, kicking dirt into the air with its several steps back. Tommy rematerialized his javelin only to immediately throw it again. An inkling of pride wormed through his fear - the various figures attacking at its legs surely enough to kill it- 

“Get back!” 

Once again, an explosion rocked his world. 

He came to laying prone in a crater, blood pulsing in his head and upper body clouded with fire. After a quick self-assessment, he came to the conclusion that his injuries were more jarring than anything. Dirt pressed into his back. 

“You good man?” Tubbo called from his side. Tommy looked through the dust to see him and Schlatt, both of them incredibly dirty and worn. He scanned them for any injuries, eventually deciding that neither had sustained any serious damage. He nodded and rolled to his feet. 

“What’s going on out there?” His question elicited a scoff from Schlatt, the man gripping a pistol in tight hands. 

“We’re losing, that’s what’s going on. Vision is terrible so no one can get a shot from afar and close quarters aren’t faring too well.” 

Tommy whimpered, crawling closer to the two. “What are our chances?” 

Schlatt paused. “Low,” he murmured grimly. “The only thing killing that is a miracle. Right now, my focus is on keeping us three safe until we can retreat.” 

Tommy turned to Tubbo. His bow trembled and his eyes were blown wide, but realization slowly dawned on his face. Suddenly, old fear gripped at him.

“Tommy,” Tubbo whispered. Around them, the battle raged. 

He instinctively shook his head, the movement erratic and panicked. “We can’t. I can’t.” 

“Do you not trust me? I promise I won’t do anything that crosses your boundaries, I swear on my heart-” 

Tommy nearly cried, emotions overwhelming and whipping him into a frenzy. He registered that he was breathing heavily, but urgency forced him to ignore it and focus on the unspoken parts of their conversation. 

“I trust you. Shit, you’re the only one I would-” he flinched against the rumble of the Earth- “but what about you? I can’t hurt you, I can’t do that to you-” 

“Kids, what the fuck are you talking about-” 

They both ignored him. 

“I’ve gotten stronger!” Tubbo near-yelled, face red and wild. “I can handle it, you won’t break me. Please, it’s our only chance!”

He paused, only vaguely understanding how his face twisted. Another explosion pierced the air, an unholy screech accompanying the loud noise. Finally, he nodded. 

They surged towards each other, hands instinctually coming together. Something about the touch had changed, the sensation buzzing across his arms as it morphed and spread and dipped. 

White enveloped the two, a beacon through the dust. 

Then, he could only see black. 

*** 

Schlatt considered himself a perceptive man. Economical and blunt to a fault, yes, but perceptive nonetheless. He saw enough of his fellow peers and studied enough of their actions to have them all pegged in his mind. Even in fusion. 

Tubbo wasn’t considered a very strong fuser. He never brought much in terms of power, but he contributed an unnatural amount to the fusion’s stability and more subtle skills. If fusions were used more in the ways Tubbo excelled, his standing would considerably change. 

Tommy, on the other hand, didn’t fuse at all. 

Schlatt had always suspected that he could - his ability to materialize a weapon evidence enough - but he wasn’t one to judge. He rarely fused himself. Being that vulnerable to another was simply too much. 

So when the two began talking about some sort of exchange, one where both of them seemed to be at risk, he was very, very confused. His confusion only grew when they talked about it like it was some sort of trump card. 

Seeing as these kids were currently under his care, he tried to intervene. He tried to stand between them as they made their unspoken pact. They pushed past him as if he weren’t there. 

Then the two grabbed each other’s hands, glowing in the way he had only seen in fusions and- 

Holy shit. 

Instead of two kids there stood one incredibly tall being. 

He scrambled out of the hole as they simply stepped out. As he retreated, eyes up in an attempt to see the being’s face, he noticed the battle had frozen around him. 

It swept one hand across the battlefield and he could suddenly see the sky. 

He now definitely, absolutely knew that his kids had fused. The question became how the fuck could their fusion be so powerful. 

Together, the two had somehow grown to four times his height, his eyes level with a boot-clad calf. Their shirts had morphed into a complicated chest plate, a thick “v” of dark red metal bursting from the breastbone and laying over their shoulders. Fused together they managed to gain a third set of arms. When a light breeze rushed across the battlefield, a deep green cape fluttered far behind them. 

Incredibly light brown hair rested atop their head. Only one pair of eyes opened. 

Huh? 

Without giving him another second the two leaped back, white matter pooling into their hands. He watched, awed, as particles condensed into an impossibly large bow and arrows. The arrows didn’t even seem like arrows, the shafts nearly as long as the bow itself and consisting of only a tight spiral. 

He diverted his attention back to the ground, zeroing in on his frozen peers. 

“Assholes! Move the fuck back and get to safety!” 

It seemed that his words worked, the people closest to him retreating with him farther away. Others followed suit, only in the opposite direction. Out of the blast zone, he did what he could - mostly, he just pressed a hand against a noticeably hurting Techno and guided him to the ground.

Together, the town watched as two giants began to brawl. 

But really, it wasn’t a brawl. 

The two seamlessly glided farther back, easily avoiding the bombs and even hitting a few out of the air. They seemed to search the ground for something. When they found themselves in line with the wreckage that was a part of their wall, it appeared as though they found it. 

One pair of their arms rammed the bow into solid ground. It seemed to shudder with the contact, elongating and unfolding to become even larger. 

They fell to their knee, arms bracing against the bow. An arrow found its way into the weapon, hands guiding the shot fluidly.  
They fired. 

In the corner of his eye, he saw the rod pierce between its ribs. He was a lot more focused on watching arrow after arrow leave their bow. 

The creature was screaming nearly constantly now, injuries poking through. Somehow, it never went down. 

“Shit,” they said softly. He could still hear their voice, even from hundreds of yards away. 

They tried to knock back another arrow. The monster hit its mark. Yet, even as they flew back from the force of the explosion, they managed to land unharmed. 

“Stop holding back so much, we’re losing,” they yelled. Their voice sounded completely like Tubbo’s. “Please, have faith. I can handle it, I can do this.” 

All of their weapons dissolved, leaving only them and an injured monster standing off. They hunched in, a hand clutching their shoulder where the bomb had detonated-

Then, out of nowhere, they grew. 

Their head scraped past the trees - past even the wall, holy shit - everything about them sharpening and shifting until the ground sunk from their power. Standing proud, eyes level with only the clouds, they looked every bit like a deity who descended from the heavens. 

They rushed forward. In their hands, two rods made of light. 

With each step they shook the ground, tremors writhing up his feet and ending in his teeth. Everything about them screamed of power, waves of it condensing and pressurizing into blasts of air that dispersed clouds and rattled trees. 

They leaped off the ground, the action quaking. They were flying, deep green trailing and arm knocked back- 

A glistening white spiral pierced the ground and the creature’s head. 

The thing went limp. Dust blew from where it had been impaled. The two stood there for a moment, almost looking frozen in time.

A burst of white broke the sky and each giant was no more. 

*** 

Every observer to the event had cautiously approached, a loose ring forming around the two fallen. When they saw a limp Tommy being supported by an exhausted Tubbo, all that caution was abandoned. 

“He’s okay, he’s okay,” Tubbo eased. His voice barely carried past a couple of feet. “This happened last time too. I think it takes too much out of him.” 

Worries assuaged, they gathered their injured and began making their way to behind the walls. No one spoke of what had happened. An aggressive-looking Wilbur had warded off the possibility. 

Clutching his gun and carefully watching his step, Schlatt felt slightly dumb. Slightly lost. 

So, Tommy could fuse. 

Ain’t that a thing.

**Author's Note:**

> So I might have just wanted to write an insanely powerful Tommy. What are you gonna do? Huh? I'll shoot you 
> 
> I gave Schlatt a gun. In Minecraft. I think that explains everything. 
> 
> Idk it just wouldn't get out of my head so woot woot have fun with this incomprehensible mess


End file.
